St George’s Dance and Theatre Residency Programme

The St George's Dance and Theatre programme is new, fresh and looking for new pathways of artistic expression in the heart of our beautiful city. In order to discover where we can develop the programme, we are providing residency space for both emerging and established artists in and around the iconic Cathedral, offering a fascinating experience for the development of the arts. Our goal is to nurture a culturally diverse selection of artists interested in producing bold, new works, specifically tackling ongoing socio-political issues.

The residency will take place in the Cathedral’s Burt Memorial Hall which includes a large space that is perfect for innovative performers. We offer access to invaluable resources such as a promotional platform, an arts-practice provocateur, and a platform to show off the products of your time as a resident.

The programme’s Artistic Director, Jay Emmanuel, said, “The diversity of artists in residence at any one time allows for rich artistic conversations and potential for collaborations.”

DAISY SANDERSDaisy Sanders, a 2013 BA Arts (Dance) WAAPA graduate, currently bases her dancing/writing/thinking/embodied/research/artistic practice in Perth. Daisy works physically, rigorously, imaginatively. She improvises, responds, explores sensory awareness, listens, sings, notices, wonders...laughs and laments at herself and the world. Daisy is writing a thesis (via practice-led research, for a 2017 BA Arts (Dance) Honours) which examines the edges between going and resting, and asks about sustainable ways of moving and living. Daisy was recently in New York working with Geoff Sobelle on a new immersive theatre work. This year Daisy is a WA Young People and the Arts Fellow, awarded by the DCA. Her 2017 Fellowship program will take her back to the USA and also to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney to connect with exciting artists, spaces and ideas. Daisy is thrilled to be an artist in residence at St George’s Cathedral and curious to see how the experience will shift and inform her work.

LAURA BOYNESLaura is an independent artist working with dance and choreography in an expanded field. To date Laura’s work explores social, political and environmental concepts for theatre, gallery and site-specific spaces; she uses performance as a tool to inspire critical thought and reflection on the contemporary world. Collaboration is an integral part of these creations through the integration of live sound, installation and visuals. As a dancer Laura has performed nationally and internationally in dance, theatre, experimental music, site-specific and opera works since graduating from LINK Dance Company (WAAPA) in 2007. From 2009-2013 Laura performed for Buzz Dance Theatre. In 2013 she acted as Artistic Associate alongside Artistic Director Cadi McCarthy choreographing and co-directing Look the Other Way, Winner of the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth and Community Dance. Laura has choreographed multiple short and full-length works and co-directed large commissions for dance companies such as LINK Dance Company, Buzz Dance Theatre and the WA Academy of Performing Arts. In 2016 Laura was voted as Most Outstanding Dancer (Dance Australia Critics Choice) for her work Sous Vide presented at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2015. In late 2016 Laura premiered new work Dark Matter with multidisciplinary collective PRAXIS and Performing Lines WA at the 2016 MOVEME Festival.

ISABELLA STONEAs a teenager Isabella was a STEPS Youth Dance Company member. She then trained and completed her BA in Dance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2009, continuing her studies with LINK Dance Company during 2010. As a performer Isabella has worked with choreographers Sue Peacock, Aimee Smith, Bianca Martin, Didier Theron, Tyrone Robinson, Alice-Lee Holland, Emma Fishwick, Shona Erskine and Laura Boynes (Praxis) and is an ensemble member of Tasdance 2017 performing work by JukStaPoz. Parallel to performance Isabella is pursuing interests and curiosities in choreography. Her first produced work mouseprint premiered at the STCWA and she has also created works for STEPS Youth Dance Company, WAAAPA and LINK Dance Company as well as short works for Strut dance’s shortcuts and Tasdance’s season BREW. Isabella has been a part of extensive residency programs in Oulu, Finland, at the Bundanon Trust NSW and a TRIP residency supported by Tasdance. Isabella was the 2014 recipient of the West Australian Dance Award Emerging Artist.

EMMA FISHWICKEmma Fishwick is an emerging artist whose work takes numerous forms; her practice spans dance, visual-arts and the written word. Based in Perth, Emma graduated from WAAPA, Honours (Dance) program LINK in 2010. In 2014, Emma undertook a Department of Culture and the Arts WA Fellowship, which has enabled her to undertake multiple projects spanning Sydney, Berlin and Perth. Emma has also been awarded an Australia Council JUMP grant (2012); and performed her solo In-HUman at the ACT Festival, Bilbao Spain (2013). In 2015, Emma was a successful applicant of Next Wave’s 2015 Kickstart program where she developed a new work, microLandscapes, presented at Next Wave Festival, May 2016. She also undertook a residency at Bundanon Trust, NSW and a SEED residency in WA. In 2017, Emma has been nominated for a Green Room Award for microLandscapes, is currently at the start of a Master of Arts (Choreography) at WAAPA and is working with LINK Dance Company as a guest artist.

MADDISON GODFREYMaddie Godfrey is a Perth-bred performance poet and writer. Her work aims to facilitate compassionate conversations about social issues. At age 21 Maddie has performed at The Sydney Opera House, The Royal Albert Hall and The Bowery Poetry Club. Her work has been published in literary journals, anthologies, magazines, on a poster at The University of Western Australia and in a high-school exam paper. In January 2017 Maddie embarked on her theatre debut with If My Body Was A Poem at Perth Fringe Festival. As the writer, performer, director and publicist of the production, Maddie was praised for “treating her language as a duvet she wraps around the audience” (OUTinPerth). Maddie recently competed in the Women Of The World Poetry Slam in Dallas, Texas. This week she found a great cardigan at a thrift store and drank too much coffee.

ZAINAB SYEDZainab Zahra Syed is a performance poet, educator and producer. Since graduating from Brown University in 2014, Zainab has been performing and facilitating workshops for schoolchildren, incarcerated women, trauma victims as well as migrants and refugees across the world. In 2015 she was a finalist in the National Australian Poetry Slam. In 2016, she co-founded WORD Ink, launching Pakistan's first poetry slam as well as other grassroots programmes to create safe spaces for creative expression. In January 2017, Zainab decided to lay roots in Perth for the foreseeable future, and joined Performing Lines WA as an Associate Producer. She is also a teaching artist at the Red Room Company and Said Poets Society, producer of the illUMEnate: U+Me For Humanity events for CaLD communities in WA and a Humanitarian Observer for the Immigration Detention Monitoring Program at the Australian Red Cross.

St George’s Dance and Theatre Residency Programme

The St George's Dance and Theatre programme is new, fresh and looking for new pathways of artistic expression in the heart of our beautiful city. In order to discover where we can develop the programme, we are providing residency space for both emerging and established artists in and around the iconic Cathedral, offering a fascinating experience for the development of the arts. Our goal is to nurture a culturally diverse selection of artists interested in producing bold, new works, specifically tackling ongoing socio-political issues.

The residency will take place in the Cathedral’s Burt Memorial Hall which includes a large space that is perfect for innovative performers. We offer access to invaluable resources such as a promotional platform, an arts-practice provocateur, and a platform to show off the products of your time as a resident.

The programme’s Artistic Director, Jay Emmanuel, said, “The diversity of artists in residence at any one time allows for rich artistic conversations and potential for collaborations.”

DAISY SANDERSDaisy Sanders, a 2013 BA Arts (Dance) WAAPA graduate, currently bases her dancing/writing/thinking/embodied/research/artistic practice in Perth. Daisy works physically, rigorously, imaginatively. She improvises, responds, explores sensory awareness, listens, sings, notices, wonders...laughs and laments at herself and the world. Daisy is writing a thesis (via practice-led research, for a 2017 BA Arts (Dance) Honours) which examines the edges between going and resting, and asks about sustainable ways of moving and living. Daisy was recently in New York working with Geoff Sobelle on a new immersive theatre work. This year Daisy is a WA Young People and the Arts Fellow, awarded by the DCA. Her 2017 Fellowship program will take her back to the USA and also to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney to connect with exciting artists, spaces and ideas. Daisy is thrilled to be an artist in residence at St George’s Cathedral and curious to see how the experience will shift and inform her work.

LAURA BOYNESLaura is an independent artist working with dance and choreography in an expanded field. To date Laura’s work explores social, political and environmental concepts for theatre, gallery and site-specific spaces; she uses performance as a tool to inspire critical thought and reflection on the contemporary world. Collaboration is an integral part of these creations through the integration of live sound, installation and visuals. As a dancer Laura has performed nationally and internationally in dance, theatre, experimental music, site-specific and opera works since graduating from LINK Dance Company (WAAPA) in 2007. From 2009-2013 Laura performed for Buzz Dance Theatre. In 2013 she acted as Artistic Associate alongside Artistic Director Cadi McCarthy choreographing and co-directing Look the Other Way, Winner of the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth and Community Dance. Laura has choreographed multiple short and full-length works and co-directed large commissions for dance companies such as LINK Dance Company, Buzz Dance Theatre and the WA Academy of Performing Arts. In 2016 Laura was voted as Most Outstanding Dancer (Dance Australia Critics Choice) for her work Sous Vide presented at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2015. In late 2016 Laura premiered new work Dark Matter with multidisciplinary collective PRAXIS and Performing Lines WA at the 2016 MOVEME Festival.

ISABELLA STONEAs a teenager Isabella was a STEPS Youth Dance Company member. She then trained and completed her BA in Dance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2009, continuing her studies with LINK Dance Company during 2010. As a performer Isabella has worked with choreographers Sue Peacock, Aimee Smith, Bianca Martin, Didier Theron, Tyrone Robinson, Alice-Lee Holland, Emma Fishwick, Shona Erskine and Laura Boynes (Praxis) and is an ensemble member of Tasdance 2017 performing work by JukStaPoz. Parallel to performance Isabella is pursuing interests and curiosities in choreography. Her first produced work mouseprint premiered at the STCWA and she has also created works for STEPS Youth Dance Company, WAAAPA and LINK Dance Company as well as short works for Strut dance’s shortcuts and Tasdance’s season BREW. Isabella has been a part of extensive residency programs in Oulu, Finland, at the Bundanon Trust NSW and a TRIP residency supported by Tasdance. Isabella was the 2014 recipient of the West Australian Dance Award Emerging Artist.

EMMA FISHWICKEmma Fishwick is an emerging artist whose work takes numerous forms; her practice spans dance, visual-arts and the written word. Based in Perth, Emma graduated from WAAPA, Honours (Dance) program LINK in 2010. In 2014, Emma undertook a Department of Culture and the Arts WA Fellowship, which has enabled her to undertake multiple projects spanning Sydney, Berlin and Perth. Emma has also been awarded an Australia Council JUMP grant (2012); and performed her solo In-HUman at the ACT Festival, Bilbao Spain (2013). In 2015, Emma was a successful applicant of Next Wave’s 2015 Kickstart program where she developed a new work, microLandscapes, presented at Next Wave Festival, May 2016. She also undertook a residency at Bundanon Trust, NSW and a SEED residency in WA. In 2017, Emma has been nominated for a Green Room Award for microLandscapes, is currently at the start of a Master of Arts (Choreography) at WAAPA and is working with LINK Dance Company as a guest artist.

MADDISON GODFREYMaddie Godfrey is a Perth-bred performance poet and writer. Her work aims to facilitate compassionate conversations about social issues. At age 21 Maddie has performed at The Sydney Opera House, The Royal Albert Hall and The Bowery Poetry Club. Her work has been published in literary journals, anthologies, magazines, on a poster at The University of Western Australia and in a high-school exam paper. In January 2017 Maddie embarked on her theatre debut with If My Body Was A Poem at Perth Fringe Festival. As the writer, performer, director and publicist of the production, Maddie was praised for “treating her language as a duvet she wraps around the audience” (OUTinPerth). Maddie recently competed in the Women Of The World Poetry Slam in Dallas, Texas. This week she found a great cardigan at a thrift store and drank too much coffee.

ZAINAB SYEDZainab Zahra Syed is a performance poet, educator and producer. Since graduating from Brown University in 2014, Zainab has been performing and facilitating workshops for schoolchildren, incarcerated women, trauma victims as well as migrants and refugees across the world. In 2015 she was a finalist in the National Australian Poetry Slam. In 2016, she co-founded WORD Ink, launching Pakistan's first poetry slam as well as other grassroots programmes to create safe spaces for creative expression. In January 2017, Zainab decided to lay roots in Perth for the foreseeable future, and joined Performing Lines WA as an Associate Producer. She is also a teaching artist at the Red Room Company and Said Poets Society, producer of the illUMEnate: U+Me For Humanity events for CaLD communities in WA and a Humanitarian Observer for the Immigration Detention Monitoring Program at the Australian Red Cross.